[Roy/Rou] first of a million steps

[mayovice]

set in the continuing AU of theskytides, towards the future where Hijikata is taken under the Mustang family and Roy has become eyepatch-tan. In here Roy has barely escaped with his life after an assassination attempt on him, and has only recently returned back home after recovering from the worst of his injuries.It was one hell of an understatement to say

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[thewarisover]

He'd like to say that the past few weeks had been hectic, but the hard truth of the matter was that he hadn't spent a good portion of that time period lucid.

Of the assassination attempt, Roy deliberately chose to remember very little. It was a fight through Bellcius' sewer system, in a damp place with thin air and too much of everything dirty and wet and wrong. It was a battle against two alchemists, both with abilities specifically geared against him, who had memorized all that they had to know in order to kill him well and kill him fast

[mayovice]

Sure, Roy might have told everyone in the household that he wanted to be alone, but that still wasn't going to stop Hijikata from doing what he felt that he needed to do. In a way, the persistence of the Mustangs had rubbed off him, and rubbed off him well; his original hard-headedness helped in this too, but it really was a lot of the stubbornness of not backing down and keeping aside that made him do what he wanted to do. He couldn't just stay in one corner and pretend that everything was fine when it was more than obvious that his brother was hardly fine at all. It was a miracle alone that Roy had escaped with everything intact, after what he had heard - even the doctors had said so.

Thus there he was now, sleeping right in his brother's arms even though it really wasn't the first time he hadn't been doing that - but it was the first time he had slept past the hours he should have been going back before anyone found out about... this. Mainly because it was as embarrassing as hell to admit that he did need his brother and was

[thewarisover]

It took more effort than it should have, adjusting himself so as to avoid getting bumped into - while Roy was loathe to admit it, he was still rather frail and fresh from the majority of his injuries.

To his credit, he only winced and didn't gasp too loudly, when Hijikata leaned against him a little too much.

...It had been a while, though, Roy realized distractedly, since the last time he had had the privilege of watching his brother sleep. And that took a little more effort too; shifting his arm, letting his bandaged fingers sift idly through Hijikata's hair.

[mayovice]

Hijikata stirred lightly as Roy's fingers threaded through his hair - shoulder-length hair that was currently untied from its usual ponytail, so it spilled across and over his shoulders and obscuring a bit of his face. A small frown crossed his features as the man buried his head deeper in the crook of his brother's neck with a incomprehensible sound, acting very much like a kid on a weekend who wanted to sleep in and refused to wake up anytime soon.

[thewarisover]

No strength to protest, no strength to reply, and admittedly? It's... comforting, really, feeling that warm hand on his back, being touched by someone that wasn't out to kill him, or - worse yet - someone who needed something, and was trying to get him to let him inside with choice intimacy and sweet words.

It's harder than he'd like to admit, letting his guard down, even if it's for his brother.

"Can't possibly sting any more than what caused the things in the first place," Roy jokingly returned, because responding meant keeping the silence away meant not thinking.

[mayovice]

All Hijikata did was to let a small smile cross his lips at that, but otherwise didn't say anything more as he shifted his attention to properly disinfecting the wounds and cleaning them up properly. It hurt more than it really should, seeing his brother like this - he knew well the risks that came the higher Roy went up, but still... seeing it... it was always a much different story from just knowing it.

After managing to do the clean-up, the samurai tossed the used cotton pads into the trash bin as well before taking the fresh bandages and starting to wrap up the wounds once again. Despite calloused and usually rough hands, they were now gentle and smooth, trying to make the whole process as painless as possible as Hijikata concentrated on his task, ensuring that the wounds were bandaged properly and with enough force to keep everything together, but at the same time not hard enough to make anything more painful than they already were.

[thewarisover]

The silence was comfortable, at least, but it did not change the fact that the whole situation left him restless, frustrated and annoyed. He hated being helpless, hated being confined to quarters, hated the fact that his own body refused to cooperate with him. He only had so much time, and it was dwindling away even faster than it should have because of setbacks like this.

Absorbed as he was by his dark thoughts, Roy barely noticed what his brother was doing, much less if he was finished or not. He likely didn't notice that his emotions were showing plain as day on his face, in his eyes.

Terrible business, really, this nearly dying.

[mayovice]

If Hijikata had noticed the emotions flashing across his brother's face, the samurai made no mention of it and simply went on his silent task of properly treating up his twin. In a sense, he was sort of simply giving the other some space - he was quite sure that Roy wasn't that all pleased at the fact that he had come in here without permission or anything like that, and though their connection he could easily sense how the other was feeling. After all, he had been in situations like these before, once upon a time.

Once he had finished up with everything, the younger twin withdrew in order to pack back everything properly to their respective places before he went back to his brother and quietly settled at his side upon the bed. He did a mental count of up to seven in his head before finally speaking up to bring his twin back for his thoughts. "You want any breakfast? I'll bring it up for you."

[thewarisover]

"'Appreciated', but not necessary, right?"

This was much, much better than sitting around, counting the cracks on the ceiling and the walls.

[mayovice]

"I--just eat your breakfast, goddamnit!" the younger twin snapped back, face still as red as a tomato as he resisted the urge to do something ridiculous like tableflipping. Or trayflipping in this case, since it was the closest thing available.

[thewarisover]

"But..."

Only Roy could lounge around in an eyepatch and pout like a puppy without looking silly.

[mayovice]

Seriously, just how in Reial did Roy do that? More than managing to not look silly, the way he pulled him was just... just...

Hijikata mind decided to give up on this senseless mental debate right there and then as he moved, just enough so that he could lean in and give his brother a quick peck on his cheek before promptly withdrawing to look away again and hide the blush that was becoming way too obvious on his face.

"Now eat," he mumbled, voice much more rushed and quiet that he'd have liked to admit.

[thewarisover]

"You ought to finish your food too, since you're making me eat mine."

If for anything, there was some good to be had, recovering at home.

[mayovice]

...yes well. Hijikata had been intending to eat his food, until Rou just completely made things awkward with that sudden request. At least that was over and done with now, at least.

Muttering a few choice words under his breath, the samurai shifted properly so that he was next to his brother, and so that he could reach for his own plate of (now somewhat cooled) food and unceremoniously began to start eating. He kept his concentration on the food, mostly sulking a little on what Roy had made him do but generally trying not to be even more embarrassed than he already was.

HO HO LATE.

[thewarisover]

Thankfully, since he had started eating first, that gave him every excuse to sit and watch the other as soon as he was done. It was partially because he wanted to make sure Hijikata ate, but mostly because he knew that it unnerved his brother, and that was always fun.

Ho ho hooooo.

[mayovice]

Hijikata was only about half-done with his food when Roy finished, and the younger twin could just feel his brother watching him eat as he continued on his meal, eating spoonful by spoonful as he did his best to ignore the fact that Roy was looking at him.

Finally after another few more spoonfuls, the samurai simply looked up and gave the other an annoyed-looking pout-glare. "Would you stop staring at me?" Seriously, it was really unnerving. Why was he even doing it anyway?

[thewarisover]

"I don't!"

Roy, of course, stayed very much attached to Hijikata's back and shoulder.

[mayovice]

"Sure you don't."

From the way Hijikata responded, it was clear that he didn't believe in his brother the slightest bit.

[thewarisover]

"I don't~"

Really, really nice. And warm.

[mayovice]

"Reial can drop from the sky first before I'll believe that," the younger twin went with a slight roll of his eyes, managing to put in a spoonful of food into his mouth after some struggling. At the very least, he was close to polishing off his plate.